Holy Well (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – TL 2214 0449
Archaeology & History
An early reference by Nathaneal Salmon (1728) told that in the grounds of St. Mary’s church by the vicarage there was a well, which may or may not have been deemed as ‘holy’. He wrote:
“There is a Dale in Coppice belonging to the Manor of Potterels, from which, after a great Quantity of Rain, the Water comes through Veins of Chalk to the Vicarage Well, and is white.”
No well is shown on the early OS-maps at this place and we can only assume that it was either capped or had fallen back to Earth not too long after Salmon’s visit.
References:
- Salmon, N., The History of Hertfordshire; Describing the County and its Monuments, London 1728.
Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.
© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian